Signing day

Today marks the first day of the national college signing period. Coaches, players and parents are encouraged to notify the Press-Telegram of local prep and JC players putting their names on the dotted line with an e-mail to ptsports@presstelegram.

When Norwalk High senior running back Elijhaa Penny de-committed from Washington in September, he made his parents the happiest people on earth.

Not only will they now get a chance to attend every one of his home games, but when they do, they’ll also be doing it in Las Vegas.

After winning the Suburban League’s Most Valuable Player award this season for his excellence at running back, Penny will sign a letter of intent today to play at UNLV on the first day a high school senior can sign with a university.

And when he does, it will end a somewhat awkward recruiting process for Penny that had him ending up anywhere from the Pacific Northwest to Colorado and then finally to Las Vegas.

“I liked the coaching staff at UNLV and when I took a visit, I really liked it,” Penny said. “The future looks promising there and they’re also doing a great job of recruiting a great offensive line for me to run behind.

“I know my family likes me going to UNLV better than Washington and now they can come to my games. Getting recruited was an exciting time for me. You never knew who was going to show up on campus.”

After rushing for 1,569 yards and scoring 22 touchdowns as a junior while splitting carries with Adrian Gonzales and Billy Moore, it seemed like a dozen colleges were flocking to Norwalk High to try and get Penny to commit to them.

And they came with good reason. At 6-foot-2, and 245 pounds, Penny has the unusual combination of being able to run over and around defenders. Then, even though Coach Jesse Ceniceros advised against it, Penny verbally committed to Washington before the season started and that’s when the problems arose.

“My advice to him was not to verbally commit to anybody because when he did, he kind of buried himself,” Ceniceros said. “Schools like Colorado, Kansas, Washington State and Oregon State were also interested in him but when they found out he verbally committed to Washington, they stopped recruiting him.

“They ignored him after that. I never thought though that Washington would do the same.”

According to both Ceniceros and Penny, after he gave Washington a verbal commitment, they simply ignored him and Penny actually went an entire month without hearing from anybody at the school.

Then, after not feeling like he was truly wanted, Penny de-committed to Washington before Norwalk’s game against Morningside on Sept.24 and opened up the recruiting process again.

What schools saw was a runner more determined than ever. Penny ran for more than 2,200 yards while scoring 23 touchdowns and averaging a whopping 9 yards a carry while leading the Lancers to a 7-5 season.

After the season, he was named the Suburban League MVP and earned All-CIF Southeast Division honors.

“I don’t know why Washington did that, it wasn’t behavior problems or anything like that,” Ceniceros said. “Elijhaa is a great kid, he’s never been in trouble and he’s done what he’s had to do to become eligible in the classroom.

“He just told me he wasn’t feeling it anymore from Washington and UNLV did a good job of selling their program. I actually think this is better for him and his family.”

Colorado and Kansas became interested once again and Penny also was offered a scholarship to San Jose State, but in the end, UNLV won out.

“I actually heard that I wasn’t the only kid Washington ignored after they got a verbal commitment from them,” Penny said. “When I called them and told them that I wasn’t going there anymore, they didn’t really try hard to keep me and that’s when I knew I made the right decision to leave.

“UNLV feels right, I think our future is bright and it’s an exciting time in my life. And nobody has to worry about me getting into trouble in Las Vegas. I don’t do too much. I’m more of a dorm guy myself.”